UACCH tweaks tuition, fees

Monday

May 12, 2014 at 11:29 AM

A not-so-successful fiscal legislative session marred by a fight over Medicaid funding left higher education with little hope for improvement in the fiscal 2014-2015 biennium, pushing the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope to raise tuition and fees for the first time in several years.

Ken McLemore, Hope Star Editor

A not-so-successful fiscal legislative session marred by a fight over Medicaid funding left higher education with little hope for improvement in the fiscal 2014-2015 biennium, pushing the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope to raise tuition and fees for the first time in several years.

UACCH Chancellor Chris Thomason told the UACCH Board of Visitors in a called meeting Friday that a series of tuition and fee increases would be recommended to the UA Board of Trustees in Fayetteville based upon local approval.

The board voted unanimously to make the recommendation, and to revise the current budget based upon the recommendation.

Board member Ned Ray Purtle asked how the change will be presented to the UA board, and Thomason said all campuses will present their proposals for changes at the same meeting.

“There is actually very little change in the budget from last year based on state revenue,” UACCH Vice Chancellor for Finance Jerald Barber told the board. “If the board of trustees does not approve our fee schedule, we will have to come back and rewrite it.”

Barber said after the meeting that the changes adopted Friday are not across the UA system, but apply only to UACCH. He said the changes already account for cuts made to the UACCH budget.

“We did not have a good year,” he said concerning the fiscal session which concluded in April.

Barber said that, despite the increases, UACCH tuition and fees remained among the lowest across colleges and universities in Arkansas.

Overall, the change in tuition and fees for an in-district student went from $2,271 per semester in 2013 to $2,380 per semester, an increase of 4.8 percent, beginning this fall. Students who live in Arkansas, but not within the UACCH service region paid $2,425 per semester in 2013, and will pay $2,560 per semester, up 5.6 percent, in the fall.

The changes include per hour tuition rates, as follows:

-In district students: $60.50 per semester hour to $62.00 per semester hour, or 2.8 percent.

-In state students: $65.50 per semester hour to $68.00 per semester hour, or 3.8 percent.

-Out of state students: $131 per semester hour to $136 per semester hour, or 3.8 percent.

Required fee increases per credit hour were as follows:

-Instructional support fee, $8 to $9.

-Security fee, $3 to $4.

-Documentation fee per registration, $3 to $5.

Program specific fee increases were as follows:

-Distance learning fee Internet/ITV, $95 to $100.

-Physical education activity fee, $64 to $65.

-Lab fee per course, $15 to $20.

-Welding lab fee, $15 to $50.

-Return check fee, $25 to $35.

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